AT SOME POINT YOU JUST HAVE TO DECIDE...:

Alabama Rethinks Its Harsh Immigration Law: Politicians who voted for it fear the state's reputation is tarnished (Elizabeth Dwoskin, 11/24/11, Business Week)

On Nov. 16, a European businessman paying a visit to his company's manufacturing plant near Tuscaloosa, Ala., was pulled over for driving a rental car without a tag. The police officer asked the man for his license, but the only paperwork he had with him was a German I.D. card. Anywhere else in the nation, the cop might have issued the man a citation. Not in Alabama, where a strict new law requires police to look into the immigration status of people detained for routine traffic violations. Because the man couldn't prove he had the right to be in the U.S., he was arrested and hauled off to the police station.

As it turned out, the businessman was an executive with Mercedes-Benz, one of Alabama's prized manufacturers. The Mercedes plant employs 3,400 people, and the company's much-heralded decision in 1993 to build cars in the state encouraged Hyundai (HYMTF), Honda (HMC), and Toyota (TMC) to follow. Mercedes has downplayed the incident, calling it "unfortunate" and refusing further comment. Others aren't so understanding. Word of the arrest spread quickly through the state and amplified a growing sentiment among many Alabama politicians, business owners, and citizens that the immigration law, intended to drive off undocumented workers and free up jobs for unemployed Alabamians, is too strict and is damaging the state's reputation as a place to do business (Bloomberg Businessweek, Nov. 14).

"I was really embarrassed and overwhelmed," says State Senator Gerald Dial.

...dang it, we're backwards enough.

Posted by oj at November 25, 2011 5:11 AM
Tweet   

Follow @brothersjudd